Shawn Heflick, host of “Python Hunters” on the National Geographic Channel, discusses nature and conservation at the Elmwood Park Zoo, Norristown, Sunday, July 14, 2013. Photo by Jocelyn Moye/For the Times Herald.

NORRISTOWN — When Shawn Heflick asked the question, “How many people love garter snakes?” he was met with the raised right hands of the majority of the room. An audience of both the young and old attended his lecture Sunday as part of the curator series at the Elmwood Park Zoo. Heflick, 44, is known for his program “Python Hunters” on the National Geographic Channel, as well as his conservation efforts.

Heflick began his presentation stating that it would appeal to the young at heart, though the topics covered went beyond youth-geared entertainment. While the audience viewed photos of his wildlife encounters, Heflick educated them at length on conservation issues.

Born on a remote farm in Marion, Ohio, and the only boy among four children, Heflick, as a youth, enjoyed exploring the nearby forests with his dog. At the age of 7, he saw something that would set the course for his career.

“Garter snakes,” he said as his eyes lit up.

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The sight of a pile of garter snakes made him curious about any creature he could find.

Heflick first ventured into a rain forest through his military service. What he saw as a way to support his college education also reinforced his childhood passion as, in the jungles of Central America, he collected boa constrictors, scorpions and lizards.

Heflick then enrolled Wright State University to study biology and later earned a master’s degree in conservation and marine biology from the Florida Institute of Technology. After becoming a curator at the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Fla., he was approached by 24 television production companies. He chose National Geographic for its, “science-based, reality-based, no so sensational” qualities.

What seemed most important to Heflick was educating the audience about the love of nature, not just the idea of it. His prime example was his trip to Bangkok, Thailand, where people sunbathed near 30-foot snakes in the Thai equivalent of Central Park. The people understood that the snakes belonged there, Heflick said, and although he has removed snakes from private homes, he has met homeowners who insisted that the snake should live in their yard.

He praised this attitude of coexistence with wildlife.

Heflick illustrated the overcoming of the fear of animals by showing childhood photos of his son Thorne, who was handling snakes and petting exotic creatures when barely a teenager. In one, he was petting a large anteater. The boy and creature bonded so closely that they shared a hammock. Heflick attributed his son’s embrace of wildlife to the attitude of his family.

While Heflick encouraged the audience to interact with animals, he warned children in particular about picking up snakes improperly. Heflick himself was once bitten by a small poisonous snake. The venom, and the four-hour hike and boat ride to from the hospital, resulted in the dissolution of a bone in his right index finger.

Heflick said his appreciation for wildlife came from his father, who instilled in his son the philosophy of “what you kill, you eat.” Heflick decided to push this boundary when he shot BB gun at a chickadee and only knocked off its beak. He had a “sobering, traumatizing, enlightening experience,” he said, as he was forced to kill and eat the creature.

Although Heflick admitted that he relates to animals better than humans, he spent the majority of the hour before his presentation interacting with fans up to the minute of his introduction. The theme of his lecture was to teach people to love and appreciate wildlife, the aspect of his work to which he seems to be the most devoted.